The Joe Murphy Column
22 September 2017 Article

Kevin was telling me about his club mate Glen Cameron (Charlie’s son) who had one of his pigeons reported by a Polish lad Krzysztof working on a ship supplying oil rigs in the North Sea. Glen lost the pigeon from SNFC Ypres she was a yearling hen who had won a 1st prize during the season, and was his single entry into the race. Krzysztof wrote to Glen saying ‘Hi please find a few words about pigeons lost at sea. Very often on Sunday or even Saturday we have new ‘arrivals’. Usually one or two birds but could be as many as 20 or more. In first day I just give them water to drink many birds will drink and take off afterwards. Those really very tired stay overnight, those ones will get something to eat at evening. And again some of them will take off with sun rise and go home; I never try to capture birds in first day. Those one which stay longer need help, probably they will pass away if not fed. But the worst condition the pigeons what landed on deck Monday or even Thursday. I believe yours one I’ve found Monday afternoon. However they have chance to survive with a little help. This race season only one Dutch pigeon was found dead on board, it must have drunk dirty greasy water, and forehead was covered with oil. If the weather is not good sometime I keep them a little longer. Other birds have been better and liberated in Great Yarmouth. I have attached few photos. I have kept pigeons in past, my father still does, but because I am working at sea no time to keep birds now. So that is why if I have any arrivals on board I try to help. Best regards yours in sport Krzysztof. PS; your pigeon was liberated in Great Yarmouth. Glen’s pigeon made it back home single up from there, Krzysztof had placed a small tape on the rings with his email address and the initial coordinates of where the bird landed. I though it fascinating that he gets up to 20 birds at a time, I don’t know what routes Krzysztof works but it seems fairly long journeys as he does not feed on day one etc. I’ve included a couple of photographs of Krzysztof’s fathers loft in Poland as well as birds lost at sea! Plus one of my hen on her return and I’m lucky she landed on Krzysztof’s ship. Krzysztof went to a lot of bother to help look after the pigeon. As mentioned I am very happy you took the trouble to assist, it’s amazing the number of people who do. I assume you raced in Poland; is still a fairly strong sport in Poland. Indeed we have a new member in our club this year is from Poland, we have tried to assist but he has no real background in the sport so it’s difficult for us to help him, although we did get him some well-bred pigeons. Please let me know if we can ever assist you with pigeons in the future, kindest regards Glen Cameron’.

I was very saddened that the SHU did not inform me of the passing of one of their past presidents. I looked on the SHU web site to see if this information was correct but there was nothing on the site which was very disappointing.

Results

Angus Federation was racing from Ripon with 356 birds liberated at 11-00 hours into a light south west wind. Topping the federation is Forfar’s Macaulay Ferguson & Curran they are also 10th & 15th open. Davie Glen is 2nd & 6th with Ian Scott in 3rd & 13th positions. David Liddle is 4th 5th 8th 9th 11th & 14th with Willie MacKnight in 12th & 20th places. J Fraser is 16th with R Greig in 18th place and T McAree in 19th spot. East section winners are as follows; Gordon McKenzie of Inchcape is 1st with M Wallace of Montrose in 2nd & 6th places A & S Whyte of the same club is 3rd 4th 5th & 7th with Les McKay of Inchcape in 8th spot just ahead of Charlie Cameron who was racing in Inchcape as Arbroath club were not sending. Club Winners Forfar 245 bird’s winner Macaulay Ferguson & Curran; Montrose 60 bird’s winner M Wallace; Gourdon 28 bird’s winner Eddie Mann; Inchcape 23 bird’s winner Gordon McKenzie Ayrshire Federation race report from Archie McIntyre who informs me this was their 6th and final young bird race of the season held on the 2nd September with a convoy of 313 birds. The Federation was due to race from Ripon this week for their final race approximately 177 miles to the top end of the fed but the top table took the decision early in the week based on the small convoy of birds (304) at the previous week’s race from Sedgefield and the returns from Sedgefield (less than a third) to change the race to Arniston. Jim O’Hare had the birds up and away at 07:45 into no wind for a race of between 52 miles up to 71 miles to the top end of the fed. Reports from the liberation site were the small convoy headed off straight away and this looks like the case as the velocity’s this week have been by far the best from all the young bird races this season. Leading the way in the federation this week to record their 4th x 1st fed win in 6 young bird races making it 3 x 1st in a row is the partnership of John Grant & Stevie McGovern from the Ardeer HS. What more can you say about these lads with their young bird team this season apart from another outstanding performance. This partnership cannot seem to do anything wrong this young bird season delivering another stunning result winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th fed from a convoy of 313 birds with their leading pigeon doing 1227.9 ypm, timing their 7 pigeons in 19 seconds. John and Stevie’s winning pigeon this week to take 1st fed is a black cock that also recorded 2nd fed the previous week only to be beaten by his loft mate on the trap. This bird certainly looks like one for the future, but after talking to John he is thinking about sending it on to the young bird national in a week’s time. The sire is a gift bird they got about 4 years ago as a young bird from Mark Findlay who now flies under the name of Cowan & Findlay. The dam is a Koopman pigeon bred down from their Galaxy Loft birds. 2nd fed on 1227.7 is a gift bird John & Stevie received from their very good friend Dougie Bald who is no stranger to when it comes to topping the Almond Valley Federation. The sire and dam are pigeons from Willie Hay of Methil and have bred numerous federation winners for Dougie. 3rd fed this week on 1226.9 is a Koopman pigeon bred down from the partnerships Galaxy loft stock pigeons. A lot of the Ayrshire members will be glad this is the last race (well except Grant & McGovern) as this has been a bruising young bird season with many losses. Every race apart from the last has seen the youngsters having to face these fresh westerly winds and this has certainly taken its toll on the natural youngsters, even the darkness youngsters have also been finding it hard.
In and around Ayrshire clubs this week starting with the North Section: 185 Birds
Dalry HS 81 birds: 1st T Smith 1210, 2nd R & G McCallum 1171. 3rd G Urquhart 1147
Ardeer HS 76 birds: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grant & McGovern 1227.9, 1227.7 and 1226.9.
Kilwinning HS 20 birds: No Birds timed.
Central Section: 82 Birds
Kilmarnock Invitation: No birds sent.
Crosshouse HS 26 birds: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ian Noble 1057.1053and 1047.
Darvel HS 18 birds: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cowan & Findlay 1136. 1126 and 943
Irvine HS 46 birds: 1st, 2nd and 3rd R Thornhill 1202.1180 and 1020
South Section: 46 Birds
Mauchline: No birds sent.
Cumnock & District; No birds sent.
Dalmellington.9 birds: 1st M McCarty 865.2nd J Stark 839.
Carrick & District: No birds sent.
Whitletts 32 birds; 1st Boyle Bros 985; 2nd and 3rd Cuthbert & Cree 897 and 892
Annbank 5 birds; 1st 2nd and 3rd D Harris 582 405 and 372
Archie finishes off by saying ‘As well as the attached report I have attached a photo of John Grant of the Grant & McGovern partnership holding this week’s federation topper. Stevie McGovern, John's partner is away on holiday hence only John in the photo. Once again Joe many thanks from ALL Ayrshire Federation members for the publicity you have given us this year, yours in sport Archie’.

Almond Valley Federation news from Lynne who writes ‘We were at Wetherby on Saturday 9th September with 311 birds liberated at 09:00 hours and taking the first 2 places in the federation is Jimmy Young of East Calder club he is also 7th & 8th open. Ian Jamieson of Balerno is 3rd 6th & 9th & 10th with J Burnside winning 4th 5th 11th 12th 13th 14th & 16th open’.

East of Scotland Federation news from John Baillie who writes; ‘From our young bird open race from Newark the birds were liberated at 09-30 into a light west wind. Taking the top spot this week we have Mr & Mrs March of Prestonpans. Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone take 2nd, 3rd, 7th & 10th open positions. In 4th open is Jim McNeil of Tranent, with John Bird of Prestonpans in 5th & 8th positions. Tam Hunnam of Port Seton fills in the 6th & 9th open positions.Prestonpans HC. Winning the club this week are Mr & Mrs March with a dark pied cock, bred from a brother and sister mating from birds bred from Gus Simpson of Lauder. The mother has a few fed tickets and flew Ypres this year. The young bird taking 2nd position for Tom & Scott McEwen is 100% Paul Stobbs with the sire a direct son from the Gypsy when he was paired to his dam and the dam of the youngster is inbred to Bob's Choice. In 3rd position is Tom and Scott again with its sire being a Deweerdt from Mark Gilbert from the Ted and Magnus lines and the dam is Tom's old family of Petite Rose his 1st open SNFC Tours winner, when she was paired to her full brother. Returns were very good considering the amount of rain that was forecasted, we seem to get better racing these days in similar weather conditions? Seas like our friendly Hawks hate getting wet!!
John Bird wins the Pentland Midweek Race from Peterborough, so well done to John, yours in sport John B’. Last week I stated I thought that Tom & Scott McEwen winning the above federation for the 3rd time was the first time this had been done. However I have been informed that Brian Cunningham won 4 times when it was the ‘Big Fed’, sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Fife Federation was racing from Ripon for their young bird open race with 44 members sending 626 birds. Liberated at 11-45 hours into a North West wind topping the federation again this week is Dave Baldie of St Andrews with another 6 in the top 15 positions. 2nd open is Mook Honeyman of Kennoway club with Jim Mackie of Leven in 3rd place. Tame Laing of Kennoway is 4th with Jimmy & Gary Peggie of Methilhaven club in 5th spot. J Honeyman & son of Kennoway are 6th with Davie Hunter of Methilhaven next followed by Jocky Scott of Kennoway in 8th place. Dave Baldie takes the next 4 places. Centre Section 1st x 7 places plus 9th & 10th winning 16th, 22nd 29th 30th 35th 37th 43rd 52nd 54th open is Brian Kinnear from Glenrothes club with club mates Terry Turpie & McCord in 8th centre section 45th open. The west section is won by Allister McCudden of Rosyth club who also wins 4th & 6th section winning 26th 58th & 77th open. Bob Wilson of the Glenrothes club is 2nd & 3rd west section 39th & 50th open 5th west section 75th open are Walker & David Kennedy of Dunfermline club with Jim Doig of Lochgelly club in 8th west section 83rd open. St Andrews club sent 87 pigeon to the Ripon young bird open race timing 7 pigeons and winning the first 7 positions is Dave Baldie with the Frans Zwols family of racing pigeons, Dave also won the first 7 positions in the federation mentioned above with a winning velocity of 1403.98. This week’s winner is a blue hen darkness youngster flown roundabout, bred from the stock loft with the sire being a direct son of ‘Franz x Young Amy’ a daughter of Little Amy and a full sister to the 3 Musketeers, Franz is direct from Frans Zwols and one of Dave & Willie Donachie top stock cocks. He is now responsible for 6 x 1st federation winners; 13 x joint 1st federation winners and 13 SNFC Diploma winners. A grandson won 13th UK, 150th open International final Golden Race in the Algarve from 3644 entries flying 505 km. Dam of this week’s federation winner is a Frans Zwols hen recently introduced to the stock loft, Fantastic Francesca and a granddaughter of Tip Top Junior and the Queen of Rakeem, she is already dam of 1st federation, 1st North West Combine, 1st Liverpool Amalgamation Messac from 1362 entries flying 395 miles, and is now proving her worth in our stock loft, such is our quest for prime producing quality stock pigeons of this remarkable family. See attached photograph of this week’s federation winner.

Dunfermline LRPS
News from David Kennedy who informs us 6 members sent 76 birds to the federation open race from Ripon. Taking the last club red card for this season is Walker & David Kennedy Loft No2 with a velocity of 1005 ypm. We timed a darkness hen who won 3rd club Ripon last week. This hen was bred by George Atkinson of Market Weighton of East Yorkshire with the bloodlines being Vandenabeele crossed Van Hove. 2nd this week is Dan McNeely with a velocity of 965 ypm. Danny timed a homebred darkness hen which was sent sitting on 10 day eggs. The sire and dam are both from club mate Frank Mitchell. Third is won by Eddie McWilliams with a velocity of 959 ypm. Eddie timed a natural cock flying to the perch, which was bred by Tom & Mary Paterson of Plean; this was one of a gift pair given to Eddie. Dan McNeely cleans up the club competitions this week winning the nomination and the two bird. Well that’s our club results for another season Joe and a very mixed one it has been for the fancy, with only the young bird national to go. On behalf of the club members I would once again like to thank you for your support in publicising our results on a weekly basis in your column. Keep up the good work yours David’. North of Scotland Federation had 17 members sending 199 birds to Ripon liberated into a light North West wind. The East Section had 13 members sending 161 birds taking the 1st x 3 open places are Clint & Mhairi Williams of Peterhead club with Jim & Ann Donaldson of the same club in 4th 7th to 16th plus 18th & 20th open. Stuart Maskame of the same Peterhead club is 5th & 6th with George Duthie of Fraserburgh & District in 17th place and R McKenzie of Inverurie in 19th & 21st open. The West Section has 4 members sending 38 birds G R Duncan of Keith is 1st 2nd 6th 8th 10th west section 26th 27th 35th 37th & 39th open with G Wilson of Devern Valley club in 3rd & 9th section 28th & 38th open. Fulton & Ritchie of the same club are 4th & 5th section 29th & 30th open with A Wilson of the same Devern Valley club winning 7th section 36th open.
Clubs First Bird
Peterhead & District winners C & M Williams; Fraserburgh & District winner G Duthie; Inverurie winner R McKenzie; Keith winner G R Duncan; Devern Valley winner G Wilson; Well done to Clint & Mhairi Williams on topping the federation and to George Duncan on winning the west section.
Our THANKS Joe for adding us to your weekly column it has been a great boost to the membership seeing our federation results in your article. Keep up the good work and look forward to meeting up once again yours George Duthie’.

May I once again THANK all the fanciers who send in their weekly club or federation results to add to the column? I know this is a hard job as some people have no difficulty telling you the information on their winning pigeons. While others do not wish to give you any particulars which are their preference however without these press officers supplying this weekly information many fanciers and clubs would not receive any publicity. Once again my many thanks to each and every one of you Joe M:

Sick Call

George Harris of Dunipace has taken a stoke and thankfully is now out of hospital it will take him a while to adjust. George was 3rd open SNFC when I won the race from Sartilly and he has put up some outstanding performances over the years. This year he has won more than his share in the Forth & Clyde club which is associated to Almond Valley federation. We wish you all the best George and you are in our thoughts and prayers at this time.

Joe's Joke

Question; How can you increase the heart race of your over 70 year old husband?
Answer; Tell him you’re pregnant.